The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris said the employment picture improved in the second quarter, but long-term unemployment rose.

The unemployment rate for the group's 34 member states held steady in August from Jul at 7..9 percent, the group said. That compares to a steady 8 percent unemployment rate among 34 of the globe's largest economies in April, May and June, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Those are steady numbers. Less steady and rising, the percentage of unemployed persons who have been unemployed for 12 months or more is rising, climbing to 35.3 percent in the second quarter from 34.9 percent in the first. It is also a sharp jump from 27 percent in the final quarter of 2007, just as the recession began in the United States.

The actual number has risen to a daunting 17 million long-term unemployed in the second quarter from 8.6 million i the final quarter of 2007.

The organization also said this week that the employment rate for its members rose marginally in the second quarter of 2013.

The organization said the employment rate for its members was 65.1 percent in the second quarter, 0.1 percentage points above the first quarter of the year.

In a notice released Tuesday, OECD said the employment rate fell in the second quarter by 0.1 percentage point to 63.4 in the 17 countries that share the euro as currency, known as the eurozone.

The employment rate, the percentage of people of working age with jobs, fell by 0.5 percentage points in Italy to 55.5 percent and rose 0.2 percentage points to 73.3 percent in Germany. In France, which has the eurozone's second largest economy after Germany, the employment rate held steady at 64 percent.

OECD represents countries in the Americans and in Asia, as well. In Japan the employment rate gained 0.3 percentage points to 71.5 percent in the second quarter compared to the first. In Britain, it rose 0.1 percentage points to 70.5 percent. In Canada, it rose 0.1 percentage points to 72.6 percent.

It the United States, the rate was unchanged at 67.3 percent, OECD said.